Economy
Smuggling May Wreck Buhari’s Economic Policy—Saraki Warns
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Smuggling of goods into the country has been identified by the Senate President, Mr Bukola Saraki, as the greatest threat to the realization of the economic policies of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
While declaring open on Monday a public hearing on tackling smuggling in the country organized by the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs at the National Assembly, Abuja, the number three citizen of Nigeria stressed that unless the monster of smuggling was tamed, efforts being made to diversify the economy from oil would not yield expected results.
In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, the Senate President called on the Committee and all the stakeholders present at the hearing to come up with relevant recommendations on the way forward to save the nation’s farmers, small scale industries and financial institutions from impending crisis.
“My personal presence here this morning along with the leader of the Senate is to make a point of the importance that this senate places on this subject matter,” Mr Saraki said.
“For me personally, it is my view that the singular greatest threat to our economy is this issue of smuggling. What is militating against the success of our government is this issue of smuggling,” he added.
The singular greatest threat to the delivery of the promises made by President Muhammadu Buhari on the diversification of the economy is this issue of smuggling.
“The level of smuggling that we are seeing cannot continue because they will definitely rubbish all the policies of government if allowed to go on. I am saying that with all sincerity and all level of responsibility and I tell you why. Today, the greatest threat to small holder farmers is smuggling.
“Today, rice farmers who have gone to take loans either from the CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) or from commercial banks are being threatened by rice coming in from across the borders at highly subsidized rate.
“The meaning of that is that the imported rice will always be cheaper than those produced by our local farmers.
“A time will come, if we do not do anything that these farmers will not be able to pay their loans to the banks and this will result in serious crisis.
“The banks that have given loans to these farmers, will also have crisis in their hands. And for the central bank that has intervened with billions of Naira again will not be able to recoup their money.
“The processors who have invested in rice mills at the beginning of this administration will also be threatened if we do not address the issue of rice smuggling,” he said.
Mr Saraki also stated that if smuggling is not stopped, the over $7billion invested by the government in the last 10 years to stimulate local production will go to waste.
“As a country we have invested over $7billion over the last 10 years in stimulating local production,” Saraki said. “If we do not address the area of smuggling, this investment will go to waste. This is the severity of the issue before us today.
“Any institution, whether it is the National Assembly or any other one, in order to support the success of our President, we must join to stop smuggling, without it, we should just forget the issue of diversification or increased agricultural production.
“We will only pay lip service to issue of agricultural production if we do not address the issue of smuggling and that is why I made it a point to come here personally to drive this message.
“I am confident that with the caliber of members of this Committee and the stakeholders here, that we will use this opportunity to come out with robust solutions on the way forward”, the Senate President.
He insisted that smugglers must be stopped to prevent them from further sabotaging the economy.
“There is no government, any serious government, that will render itself helpless because we must know the individuals who are doing this smuggling. We must be able to know who they are. Is it that they are larger and bigger than government?
“Is it that we cannot stop them? Or is it that we don’t want to stop them? Or is that we lack the competence to stop them? These are the questions that we put before us today. We must stop them. Customs must do what it takes to stop smuggling. These are the largest economic saboteurs that are ruining our economy. We must be able to identify them. They must be made to realize that we are serious about this issue.
“We must be able to sanction officers who are responsible for this and we must be able to reward officers who prevent the issue of smuggling. We want this Committee to sit down for the length of days of public hearing and ask ourselves what is the way forward. I can assure you that our responsibility as a Senate is to ensure that whatever recommendations are made by this Committee we have to send them back to the executive because as I said this matter is the singular greatest threat to our economy and to this government”, he said.
The Senate President noted that while Nigeria must continue to respect international treaties, it cannot afford to do so at the detriment of its economy.
“There are other issues, of course, that have to do with the ECOWAS treaties and agreements,” Saraki said. “Yes, we are part of ECOWAS. Yes, we want to develop ECOWAS, but no serious country will allow anything that will ruin its economy at the benefit of its neighbouring countries.
“We must be able to do what is right. So on this note, all hands must be on deck to ensure that we address this problem squarely. I assure you of the greatest support of this Senate,” Mr Saraki said at the hearing.
He urged the Comptroller General of Customs, Colonel Hamid Ali to prove his mettle by stopping the incidence of smuggling across the nation’s borders.
“To the Comptroller General of Customs, let me say on a lighter note, that once you end smuggling, even if you want to wear jeans and T-Shirt, I will move the motion that you should wear jeans and T-Shirt,” Saraki said. “But on a serious note, this issue is very important. Let us all work towards ending this menace once and for all.”
Earlier, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs, Mr Hope Uzodinma, said the public hearing was part of the committee’s holistic investigation into the operations of the Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme (CISS) with a view to identify the factors responsible for increasing rate of smuggling of goods into the country.
He said that the exercise was also aimed at proffering solutions to the menace of smuggling and recommend appropriate penalties to be visited on perpetrators.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Waltersmith Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited has announced plans to commence two further phases of expansion, which will include the construction of a 30,000-barrel-per-day condensate refinery and an industry park that will accommodate other gas-based firms.
The chairman of Waltersmith Petroman, Mr Abdulrazak Isa, revealed this during a visit of the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr Felix Omatsola Ogbe, and the chief executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Mr Saidu Mohammed, to the Waltersmith modular refinery at Ohaji- Egbema, Imo State.
Mr Isa said the firm would develop a gas line that would deliver 100 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, and provide an embedded captive power, to attract industries to co-locate in the industrial park.
Plans are afoot to conclude the partnership agreement for the condensate refinery by the 4th quarter of 2026, he said, adding that feedstock for the integrated expansions will come from the Ibigwe and Assa fields, as well as from nearby fields.
The chairman underlined the company’s determination to invest in the petrochemical sector, leveraging its access to gas and Naphtha, noting that the petrochemical industry is a key enabler of the economy.
He sought approvals from the NMDRA for the various stages of the upcoming developments.
The visit was to inspect the newly completed expansion of the firm’s refining capacity, from 5,000 barrels per day to 10,000 barrels per day.
NCDMB invested equity in Waltersmith Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited’s modular refinery in 2018 and helped catalyse the investment, leading to the commissioning of the first phase of the plant in November 2020.
NCDMB also participated in the expansion, which is now completed and operational, producing AGO (diesel), Household kerosine (HHK), HFO (Heavy Fuel Oil) and Naphtha.
The refinery has to date supplied over 1.1 billion litres of refined products to local and regional markets, helping to strengthen Nigeria’s and West Africa’s energy security and contributing immensely to the national economy. The refinery supplies most of its products to the South-East and South-South parts of the country, while the HFO gets to the West African sub-region.
On his part, Mr Mohammed expressed his delight at the success of the facility and promised the agency’s support to the company’s expansion plans, saying the midstream sector of the petroleum industry holds the key to the nation’s economic development, adding that the establishment of such projects is the dream of every administration.
He described Waltersmith as an octopus in the midstream sector and challenged the company to hasten the development of the condensate refinery. Mohammed also commended NCDMB for partnering with Waltersmith to develop the project, which had become a runaway success.
The Director of Legal Services at NCDMB, Mr Naboth Onyesoh, who represented the organisation’s scribe, conveyed the board’s delight at the success of Waltersmith modular refinery, describing the company as a model in local content implementation, especially in direct and indirect job creation, capital retention, industrialisation, import substitution and value addition to crude oil and gas resources.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was bullish last week despite investors’ mood swing, triggered by happenings in the country and across the globe, especially the Middle East crisis.
The All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation appreciated week-on-week by 3.94 per cent to 225,722.49 points and N145.335 trillion, respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of the growth and commodity indices, which depreciated by 0.02 per cent and 0.41 per cent, respectively, while the sovereign bond index closed flat.
A look at the price changes of shares in the five-day trading week showed that
46 stocks gained weight versus 61 stocks of the previous week, 53 equities shed weight compared with 36 equities a week earlier, and 47 shares closed flat, in contrast to 49 shares of the preceding week.
UAC Nigeria led the gainers’ chart after it chalked up 42.00 per cent to trade at N142.00, Union Dicon appreciated by 32.73 per cent to N21.90, NASCON expanded by 32.63 per cent to N206.90, Trans-Nationwide Express rose by 30.58 per cent to N7.90, and Zichis improved by 25.71 per cent to N15.60.
On the flip side, Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank led the losers’ group after it gave up 50.79 per cent to close at N9.35, Abbey Mortgage Bank declined by 33.33 per cent to N5.40, Guinea Insurance slipped by 15.20 per cent to N1.06, Stanbic IBTC lost 13.82 per cent to settle at N162.50, and Living Trust Mortgage Bank slumped by 10.98 per cent to N3.65.
As for the activity log, Customs Street recorded a turnover of 3.805 billion shares worth N213.955 billion in 297,202 deals in the week compared with 3.588 billion shares valued at N195.313 billion transacted in 254,553 deals in the previous week.
Financial stocks led the activity chart with 2.739 billion units sold for N106.269 billion in 135,101 deals, contributing 71.99 per cent and 49.67 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.
Services equities traded 212.324 million units worth N4.024 billion in 17,042 deals, and consumer goods shares exchanged 180.076 million units valued at N13.269 billion in 32,457 deals.
Access Holdings, UBA, and First Holdco were the busiest with 814.060 million units traded for N39.032 billion in 37,195 deals, contributing 21.40 per cent and 18.24 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value, respectively.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The 65th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc has been fixed for Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at 11:00 am at its corporate head office on 2–4 Customs Street, Lagos.
Business Post gathered that the meeting would be streamed live on the company’s website and social media platforms to enable broader participation by shareholders and stakeholders unable to attend physically.
As part of a special business, shareholders will consider a proposed bonus issue of one new ordinary share for every three existing shares held as at the close of business on April 10, 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
The proposal also includes an increase in the organisation’s share capital from N1,102,309,954 to N1,469,746,605, to accommodate the bonus shares and amendments to the Memorandum of Association to reflect the new capital structure.
Also at the gathering, shareholders will consider and, if deemed fit, approve the company’s audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025, alongside the reports of the directors, auditors, board evaluation consultants, and audit committee.
The meeting will also deliberate on the declaration of a final dividend and the re-election of three non-executive directors retiring by rotation, who are Mr Umaru Kwairanga, Mrs Ojinika Olaghere, and Dr Okechukwu Itanyi.
Other ordinary business items on the agenda include authorising the board to fix the remuneration of the external auditors, determining the remuneration of managers, and electing members of the statutory audit committee.
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